The Small Business Administration will begin in July to guarantee loans that help auto dealers purchase inventory, officials said Thursday.

SOUTHEAST

The capital pressure at Nexity Financial Corp. is mounting, but its top executive says the Birmingham, Ala., company is close to raising what it needs.

In another sign of life for the bank mergers-and-acquisitions market, OceanFirst Financial Corp. has agreed to buy another New Jersey company, Central Jersey Bancorp, for $68.4 million of stock.

Community Bank of Nevada in Las Vegas has agreed to take steps to improve its condition.

If at first you don't succeed … offer more money.

Can saving face help save a struggling bank?

The sale of the failed BankUnited to an investor group may be a turning point for private equity's involvement in the banking sector.

And the winner is … the lower bidder?

Though BankUnited has failed, its name lives on.

It was good to hear Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner state that "community banks play a vital role in our financial system and a central role in our economy."

Western Alliance Bancorp. in Las Vegas has a lot of plans for the $200 million of capital it just raised.

UCBH Holdings Inc. has postponed its annual meeting because it needs to recalculate its first-quarter and 2008 results.

Regulators have given Community Bank of West Georgia in Villa Rica until early June to get adequately capitalized.

WEST

The last thing a community bank suffering from bad loans needs is a downgrade on its investments.

For six years, Town North Bank in Dallas has been buying up credit card portfolios from credit unions, but now it is shedding this lucrative business to raise capital.

Regulators expect Corus Bankshares Inc. of Chicago to submit plans this week for recapitalizing itself and its bank, but the $7.7 billion-asset condominium lender said it is unsure about those plans passing muster.

The critically undercapitalized Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. of West Chester, Ohio, might stave off failure with the deal it announced Monday to sell nearly all of its branches.